Latest news with #CorkGAA
The Irish Sun
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
‘Magical news', cry fans as former Miss Ireland announces she's expecting first child with Cork hurler Colm Spillane
FORMER Miss Ireland Aoife O'Sullivan has announced she is expecting her first child with Cork GAA legend Colm Spillane. The Irish model, 28, and the hurler, 31, recently tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at Mount Juliet Estate in Co Advertisement 3 Aoife O'Sullivan and Colm Spillane are expecting their first baby 3 Aoife and Colm shared a photo of their baby scan on Instagram 3 Fans all congratulated the pair on their exciting news Just a year after they became husband and wife, Aoife and Colm have now revealed they are set to become first-time parents. Taking to The Aoife cradled her bump and smiled down at her belly, while Colm leaned in to give her a sweet kiss on the forehead. Advertisement READ MORE IN SHOWBIZ The lovebirds then wrapped their arms around each other and grinned from ear-to-ear. The mum-to-be penned in her caption: " The best chapter is yet to come . #baby2025." Fans and friends all raced to the comment section to congratulate the couple on their exciting news . Helena gushed: "So so happy for you both I could cry!!! Can't wait to give you a big squeeze." Advertisement MOST READ IN THE IRISH SUN Lauren said: "Glowing angel, congratulations lovely!" Elle wrote: "Eeeeep!! Magical news , congrats guys!!" Atomic Kitten star, 44, pregnant with first child after years of struggling Ciara added: "Beyond excitement for both of you. Cannot wait to meet Baby Spillane." And Erin commented: "Huge congratulations to you both, exciting times ahead." Advertisement Aoife, who won the Miss Ireland crown in 2018, works as a primary school teacher in Glounthaune in Cork city. WEDDING BELLS Colm, who announced his retirement from inter-county games in 2021 due to injury, is also a maths and PE teacher. The pair met online in 2017 and they hit it off straight away. Colm popped the question five years later whilst on the couple were on a romantic holiday in Italy . Advertisement The sporting star rented a private boat and and only told the skipper minutes before that he was planning to pop the question. The newly-engaged couple put their wedding on hold until 2024 when they found the perfect date on June 24.
BreakingNews.ie
18-05-2025
- Sport
- BreakingNews.ie
Brian Hayes feared season could have been over for Cork after injury
Cork hurler Brian Hayes has spoken about how victory over Limerick last year gave them a vital boost in the Munster championship ahead of their clash on Sunday. Last year Cork were underdogs as they faced Limerick in the Munster championship, needing a win to keep their championship alive. Advertisement They won in one of the games in the season, and repeated the performance when they met in the All-Ireland semi-finals. Coming into this weekend, Cork are on top of the table with a Division 1A title secured, and are seen by many as favourites for the All-Ireland. Hayes, part of a full-forward line that can't stop scoring, says the victory last May provided a platform to build on. "For us last year, it was do or die. When you are coming up against the All-Ireland champions, it is a nice way to test yourself. Advertisement "It was a close game, and coming out the right side of it gave us that belief to push on again in the All-Ireland series. Hopefully, on Sunday, we can get the right kind of bounce off it." After losing a classic All-Ireland final to Clare, the response from the Rebel county has been immense, as they have never looked back on the heartbreaking defeat in Croke Park last July. Despite always having a talented squad, it has been 20 years since Cork have won Liam MacCarthy. The Cork forward says the wait from 2005 is not talked about in Cork. "There has only been a few lads who have been involved for a good couple of years, it does not really make a difference how long it has been, it doesn't bring any added pressure. Advertisement "We are just focusing on ourselves and the present, it is a long way off for us for still, we are just looking to the weekend and what we can bring to the match on Sunday. If Cork are to be successful this season, Hayes will likely have been a crucial part of it. Scoring for fun in the league and championship, an injury at home to Galway threatened to end his season. In what at first looked serious, thankfully only put him out of action for weeks rather than months, to the relief of the corner forward. Advertisement Sport Offaly's Mairéad Teehan says there is no guarantee... Read More "You fear for the worst at the start but thankfully it wasn't anything serious and we were just relying on symptoms to see how long it would take to get back. "Thankfully, it wasn't too long and I was able to work with the physios and S&Cs that we have, and the doctors. It's been fine since thank God. "The games are coming so thick and fast, you can't really afford to be missing any matches. "We're always minding ourselves and keeping our bodies right. Our S&Cs are good that way, that we're minding ourselves."
RTÉ News
12-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Ireland boss Carla Ward baffled by 'ludicrous' skorts fallout
Republic of Ireland women's boss Carla Ward has described the skorts/shorts camogie fallout as "absolutely ludicrous", and said it's symptomatic of "an old mentality towards women". Ward names her squad next week for the Nations League clashes away to Turkey and at home to Slovenia, which will be played at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the home of Cork GAA. Last Saturday's Munster senior camogie final between Cork and Waterford was deferred after both teams confirmed their intention to wear shorts. That goes against the current rules that dictate camogie players must wear skorts in matches. The saga has left Englishwoman Ward bemused and frustrated. "It's absolutely ludicrous," she said. "I'll be honest, some of the (backroom) staff shared it a couple of weeks ago when it first happened, and I actually did say, 'is this some sort of joke?'. I think it's absolutely mental to be even having these conversations in 2025. "It's an old mentality though isn't it? There's still some countries that have that old mentality towards women. It's crazy. I'll be honest with you, it did blow my mind because I didn't believe that anyone in this country could have that mindset that women had to wear a certain, or couldn't wear a certain short, or skort." When it was put to her that the rule does not consider the wishes of the players, Ward replied: "100%, but what does that say about the people at the top? Should they really be there or should they probably move on and pass the baton to a younger generation." In team news Ward revealed that Louise Quinn has made herself available until the summer, meaning the towering defender could add a few more caps to her tally before heading off into the sunset. After the Nations League window, Ireland are slated to play the USA in two June friendlies. Quinn announced her retirement last week. She came off the bench in the closing stages of Birmingham City's 2-2 draw against London City Lionesses for her final club appearance, but might not be done in a green jersey just yet. "She has made herself available until the summer," said Ward. "I think when she called me, she called me to say, 'I'm going to retire from football, but in the summer', and I said, 'what does that look like then?'. And she said, 'I want to let you know I'm available. I'm available for camp'. I said, 'OK, OK, that's good to know'. "So we've had a few conversations and she is she's such a top pro. I've said it a lot. I think one thing we've lacked is leaders. I said that we need to create new leaders. Do I think Lou can play a part in helping those young players breed leadership? Absolutely, I do." Heather Payne (Achilles) and Leanne Kiernan (quad) are unlikely to be available for the Turkey and Slovenia games, but Megan Connolly is fit and available again, as is Kyra Carusa.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Congress approves football championship revamp
The GAA Congress has voted decisively to back proposed changes to the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship format. Almost 93% of delegates in Donegal Town support the move which will see the removal of the round-robin stage of the football championship. The round-robin stage has been criticised for lacking jeopardy and drama. Currently, 24 matches are played across four, four-team groups to eliminate just four teams. Under the new structure which will be in place from 2026-28, 16 teams will still battle for the Sam Maguire Cup. They will be the eight provincial finalists, the Tailteann Cup winners from the previous season, with the remainder the highest ranked teams in the Allianz Football League who have not already clinched spots. Round one will see the eight provincial finalists drawn against the other eight teams. The winners from the round one games will then meet in four games, with the victors from those contests going through directly to the All-Ireland quarter-finals. The first-round losers will then be drawn to play four fixtures and the four winners from those contests going on to play the four teams beaten in the second round of games. The four winners of those contests will progress to the All-Ireland quarter-finals. The first of Saturday's motions saw a move to clarify the hurling handpass heavily defeated. The Tipperary motion called for a new rule where players would no longer be able to handpass using the same hand they are holding the sliotar. This was because of the widespread view that players are getting away with widespread illegal handpasses in the modern game. However, the motion was heavily defeated as it received only 32.4% support - well short of the two-thirds majority required for a rule change. A motion proposing that, in order to play inter-county championship football, a player must have played in four club league games in the same calendar year, was eventually withdrawn after a long debate. Cork GAA chief executive Kevin O'Donovan described the motion as "unworkable and unenforceable" although this was rejected by the motion's primary advocate former Dublin player Noel McCaffrey, who was speaking on behalf of the Clontarf club who submitted the motion. GAA president Jarlath Burns then suggested that McCaffrey should withdraw the motion with a view to amending it for next year's Congress and this plan was then agreed.
